Thailand : January 18 - February 16

18. January

Langkawi to Railay Beach

Very interesting day today, as we would cross over from Malaysia to Thailand with an aim to meet up with Adrian in Railay (near Krabi, in Thailand). We took the ferry from Langkawi to
Satun in Thailand, from there with a bus of 5 hours to Krabi. Once we arrived in Krabi we joined up with another couple and took a taxi to Ao Nang where we had made loose reservations
(as we couldn't get a place in Railay itself reserved). To our luck the guy who took us, who was actually from the Netherlands, was married to a Thai woman who ran a travel agency and they were able
to get us booked at a decent place in Railay itself. That was perfect for us as we didn't have to worry about having to get to and from there at night. (Railay is a peninsula, blocked off by huge
cliffs and coastal mountains and is only reachable by boat). So instead of heading to Ao Nang, we ended up driving to the dock where the boats left to Railay and 45 min later we were walking to
Adrian's resort hoping to find him there. Sure enough (I should have known better), it was no problem as he was hanging out right in front of it on the beach. Within about 45 seconds I had my first
beer in my hand and was enjoying the lovely warm breeze at the beach lit only by the warm light of the nearby resorts. What a nice moment.....which of course didn't last very long thanks to
some of the loveliest kids in the world: Ainsley and Aaron. According to Adrian they were very excited to see us again and were asking him every 20 min. starting from 3:00PM in the afternoon about
when we would come. It was 7:10 when we arrived and both kids already thought we would not show up. The first words out of Ainsley's mouth were, "What took you so long?" As you can imagine the
excitement was huge. We had to go see kittens living in the resort, play chasing along the beach and tickle all over the place. It was pure fun (and I always had a bottle of beer to come back
to). Luckily for us the evening was not too long as the kids had to go to bed which is what Alex and I were craving after 11 hours of traveling.

[Click on any picture to view full screen slideshow]

19-20. January

We stayed for about two days on Railay before we moved on to Ko Phi Phi. All of the next day we spent with Adrian, Amethyst, and the kids. We explored caves, spend hours playing in
the pool (diving for stones dropped to the bottom was a great hit) and even crossed the "big wide ocean" to get to an island. (It was only 100 meters and the water was never deeper
than 1 meter, but never perilous as was proved by me stepping into a sea orchin. Uhhh, that hurt, and I had a kid on my back who didn't want to be last on the crossing). In the evening we had a
nice dinner and Alex volunteered to be babysitter while I took both Adrian and Amethyst for some drinks out. We ended up in this hidden bar called the Stone Bar. It was an awesome place as it
was right under a well lit cliff and had nice wooden platforms to literally lay out while enjoying some quite drinks. It was very quite indeed...usually quite actually. Later we found out why.... it
was full moon. Hence all the young folks were off to the full moon parties for which Thailand is famous for.

The next morning Adrian and crew left for Bangkok, Alex and I had another day in Railay which we used to just relax. In the later afternoon I rented a kayak and went to the sea exploring the
coastline and some of the islands around while Alex treated herself to a nice massage. In the evening I showed Alex the stone bar (after a lovely dinner close by) where we had
some great conversations while looking up that cliff.

[This is a playlist with several videos, click on the film strip button (next to the play button) to see all]